Music distribution service BIG UP! allows international vocal synth producers to monetize their work

[Pikachuk(SeleDreamsP)]

I learned about it from a recent Twindrills fanbox post. It seems like a new music distribution service named Big Up allows international users to publish their work on spotify etc without having to censor the name and design of the voicebank they're using (thus allowing to mention "hatsune miku", "kasane teto" "vflower" etc in the name of the release)
it also allows to have cover arts using the character for the album/EP

they have a list of all the voicebanks they allow that's at the bottom of the dashboard once registered, this is the list at the time of writing :
- v4 flower
- Hatsune Miku
- Kagamine Rin
- Kagamine Len
- Megurine Luka
- MEIKO
- KAITO
- Kasane Teto (After asking to Twindrills for more details, this affects all UTAU VBs and the paid synthesizer v voicebank, the free SynthV voicebank stays banned from commercial use)
- ROSE
- POPY
- RIME
- SEKAI
- Suzuki Tsuzumi
- Chifuyu Hanakuma
- Natsuiro Karin
- Koharu Rikka
- Kirune and AiSuu
- Minato Futaba
- KZN (Kizuna)
- Sato Sasara
- Chisei
- Kafu
- VY2 V3
- Mew
- ZOLA PROJECT
- VY1 V4
- CYBER DIVA
- miki
- Kaai Yuki
- Nekomura Iroha
- Hiyama Kiyoteru
- Yuzuki Yukari
- Tohoku Zunko
- Tohoku Itako
- Tohoku Kiritan
- Shikoku Metan
- Kyuushuu Sora
- Chugoku Usagi
- Oedo Chanko
- Chubu Tsurugi
- Kansai Shinobi
- Hokkaido Meron
- Okinawa Awamo
- Zundamon
- GACKPOID
- MEGPOID
- Kokone
- CUL
- Lily
- Chika
- Otomachi Una
- MYK-IV
- Haruno Sora
- Tsurumaki Maki

The website is available at https://big-up.style.
For non-japanese producers, they have the option to use Paypal to receive money rather than a japanese bank account.

 

[Pikachuk(SeleDreamsP)]

Those are the details about the revenue split
when they talk about use of the names, they mean that it is forbidden to just title a song "Teto" or to just title a song "Kagamine Rin"

 

[Kiyoteru]

Please note that your album art must contain the character's name and artwork, ideally official artwork. If you use your own artwork the system may not recognize the Vocaloid character and refuse to publish the music.

When published, the name of the Vocaloid will also be used as the primary artist name, and you'll need to make manual edits on each track in order to add your own producer name. If you forget this step, the songs will not show up on your own Spotify artist profile, etc. And will not be grouped with any of your other publications.

Essentially, this is a system for automatically licensing the name and character of the synth you're using. The percetage collected is for the use of that character, not for the use of the vocals. But if you don't want use the name/character, then you can still publish your music commercially via other distribution services. Just ensure that the Vocaloid is not named as an artist credit, not named on the album cover, and not shown in the album art.

 

[Pikachuk(SeleDreamsP)]

Please note that your album art must contain the character's name and artwork, ideally official artwork. If you use your own artwork the system may not recognize the Vocaloid character and refuse to publish the music.

When published, the name of the Vocaloid will also be used as the primary artist name, and you'll need to make manual edits on each track in order to add your own producer name. If you forget this step, the songs will not show up on your own Spotify artist profile, etc. And will not be grouped with any of your other publications.

Essentially, this is a system for automatically licensing the name and character of the synth you're using. The percetage collected is for the use of that character, not for the use of the vocals. But if you don't want use the name/character, then you can still publish your music commercially via other distribution services. Just ensure that the Vocaloid is not named as an artist credit, not named on the album cover, and not shown in the album art.

Actually there are two ways to publish a song with big up. One where they're credited as the main artist and another where we instead set ourselves as the artist and then add the vocaloid as a "featured artist" (There's a special category for vocaloid voices with a dropdown)

 

[Pikachuk(SeleDreamsP)]

Like this

 

[Kiyoteru]

Ah, seems like this is a new feature. I used Big Up years ago.

 

[Pikachuk(SeleDreamsP)]

I just updated the list of voices to be up-to-date as Big Up regularly adds new voices to their list

 

[Pikachuk(SeleDreamsP)]

that's how a release looks like once published using big up, here it's on apple music, but it also appears on spotify
one issue i noticed is just that they have a typo for miku on youtube music (they call her HATUNE MIKU) but i reported it to their support so it probably will get fixed